Anthony Villegas, Realtor for Keller Williams Hometown Partners, LLC

04/25/2026

Congratulations to my friend, Andrew Smidt - Thrivent on his recent move to Thrivent. He's been my "money man" for years and I highly recommend his services for all things financial, from life insurance to retirement planning.

04/12/2026

04/08/2026

The land bank will be no more.

Color me shocked.🙄

I was in community policing for 7 years and watched neighborhoods decay all around. Blight, overgrown yards, graffiti...maintenance stuff. I had no confidence the city could handle property in preparation to sell. They couldn't even handle the basics...which was a tall order anyhow.

They sold 2. What happened to the rest of the houses out there? Ask the neighborhoods they are in...

Private markets are always better. Can realtors save neighborhoods? Not directly. Can realtors advocate for their buyers and sellers in dilapidated neighborhoods to help improve the communities? You bet. Could the city work hand in hand with real estate teams to help with tax incentives toward homeownership, rather than selling to California based investment groups that just want to rent them out? Sure could.

Let us do our job.
Offer sunset tax incentives on the property for local home buyers.
Move and improve the properties instead of tying them up in red tape.

Rant over.

WE TOLD YOU SO, WICHITA.

According to KAKE, Wichita has voted to dissolve the Land Bank.

And for many of us in real estate… this isn’t surprising.

When the Land Bank was introduced, many of us, including myself pushed back hard.

Not because we didn’t care about neighborhoods.
Not because we didn’t want to see blight addressed.

But because we do this every single day… and we knew how this would go.

We said:
👉 Properties would sit too long
👉 Conditions would get worse
👉 Red tape would slow everything down
👉 And the private market could do it faster and better

And the response from Wichita back then was nothing short of, we’re not asking for approval.

Fast forward to today…

Here’s the reality:

A land bank removes properties from the natural flow of the market and places them into a system with less urgency and more barriers.

Real estate doesn’t thrive in that environment.

Time kills deals.
Vacancy kills properties.

Meanwhile, the private market continues to do what it does best:

✔ Price based on real demand
✔ Market to actual buyers
✔ Create competition
✔ Move properties efficiently
✔ Return them to the tax rolls

This outcome was predictable.

If Wichita wants stronger neighborhoods, the answer isn’t holding property, it’s moving it.

And that’s exactly what real estate professionals are built to do.

No hard feelings, but next time, maybe listen to the people who are in the field every day.

Dana Sawicki, REALTOR®
Heritage 1st Realty
316-409-9200
www.DanaSawicki.com
KS License #00240602
FL License #3107957
Fair Housing Always: Everyone deserves a place to call home.

04/01/2026

Tomorrow is April Fools’ Day and here are 10 ways to not get tricked tomorrow.

Method 1:..see more

03/23/2026

02/15/2026

Don't worry friends, I dont use Lifetouch to photograph your staged home.

01/24/2026

I found this pretty cool and thought I'd share.

01/22/2026

Stay safe out there folks

01/13/2026

Just saying...

Don't wait to make your "move". Get approved, know what you can afford, make it happen.